7/14/11
Day 3- Jet Lag
This is the hit song right now in France and it about something near and dear to my heart. Jet lag. This happens to take place at Charles De Gaulle Airport in Paris where I arrived a few days ago. Enjoy!!
Day 3- KABOOM!!
One of the best things about staying with a frenchie in France is that you get to see how normal, everyday French people live. It's an immersion into their culture. I like to think of it as "authentic" traveling. Not that I have anything against tourist destinations and big cities. I definitely can't say I didn't love London or Cancun, but when you are in those places, you have sort of a cushion. A "cloud nine" phenonmenon.
Anywho, because I was staying with Coralie, she took me to the French countryside to see her grandmother, who lives in a village outside of Bourg-en-Bresse in the province of Rhone-Alpes. Here I could directly examine and experience the simplistic, quiet way of French country life?
Haha. Think again.
After eating a spectacular french lunch with Coralie's mami and cousins, I settled down in my room to take a quick nap to help with my jet lag. I am almost asleep when, all of a sudden, a siren goes off, a siren that sounds a lot like a tornado warning. Out of all the nasty natural disasters there are in this world, a tornado scares me the most. So I just laid and quietly hoped that I wasn't about to face one of my biggest fears in a foreign country without my mommy. But Coralie calmed my fears by coming in and telling me that the siren was a signal to the volunteer firemen that there was a fire. In the countryside, they do not have an institutionalized firehouse with professional firemen and such. They depend on volunteers to help fight any fires. When I was told that it was only a fire, I relaxed. I knew about fires. I live in Arizona, I see fires all the time. No biggie. So I curled back up and drifted off to sleep. But less than 5 minutes later...
KABOOM!!
I sat up and watched as Coralie and her cousins charged pass my window going to see what happened. But I already knew, something exploded. Eventually, Coralie bursted into my room and said, "You have to see this" so I followed her to the front yard where immediately I saw black smoke billowing into the sky. We ran back into the house to get to the backyard, where we saw that the smoke was coming from the neighbors shed. All of the cousins and me were all excited, everyone was asking me if I was scared and now thought that France was a dangerous place (the answer: definitely not). Neighbors and other family members gathered around to watch the spectacle. Eventually the firefighters arrived and quenched the fire with long hoses spewing out water.
So much for peace and quiet, but it will be an experience I will remember for years to come.
Anywho, because I was staying with Coralie, she took me to the French countryside to see her grandmother, who lives in a village outside of Bourg-en-Bresse in the province of Rhone-Alpes. Here I could directly examine and experience the simplistic, quiet way of French country life?
Haha. Think again.
After eating a spectacular french lunch with Coralie's mami and cousins, I settled down in my room to take a quick nap to help with my jet lag. I am almost asleep when, all of a sudden, a siren goes off, a siren that sounds a lot like a tornado warning. Out of all the nasty natural disasters there are in this world, a tornado scares me the most. So I just laid and quietly hoped that I wasn't about to face one of my biggest fears in a foreign country without my mommy. But Coralie calmed my fears by coming in and telling me that the siren was a signal to the volunteer firemen that there was a fire. In the countryside, they do not have an institutionalized firehouse with professional firemen and such. They depend on volunteers to help fight any fires. When I was told that it was only a fire, I relaxed. I knew about fires. I live in Arizona, I see fires all the time. No biggie. So I curled back up and drifted off to sleep. But less than 5 minutes later...
KABOOM!!
I sat up and watched as Coralie and her cousins charged pass my window going to see what happened. But I already knew, something exploded. Eventually, Coralie bursted into my room and said, "You have to see this" so I followed her to the front yard where immediately I saw black smoke billowing into the sky. We ran back into the house to get to the backyard, where we saw that the smoke was coming from the neighbors shed. All of the cousins and me were all excited, everyone was asking me if I was scared and now thought that France was a dangerous place (the answer: definitely not). Neighbors and other family members gathered around to watch the spectacle. Eventually the firefighters arrived and quenched the fire with long hoses spewing out water.
So much for peace and quiet, but it will be an experience I will remember for years to come.
7/9/11
Day 2- Firsts
- First Night in France
- I slept well considering the jet lag and the fact that the train goes directly behind Coralie's house. No joke. Every 10 to 15 minutes, a train comes speeding by except from midnight to 3AM. C'est vrai!
- First French Breakfast
- I had pain au chocolat and some baguette with butter and redcurrant jam. We actually had to grab the gigantic French-English Dictionary to figure out it was redcurrant jam.
- First Time seeing Coralie's school
- First sight of nudity in France
- This is not America
- First Time seeing a vineyard
Day 2- What are you saying?
French is still super SUPER difficult. It is so intimidating to be around a bunch of people speaking at you in another language that you thought you knew but really you knew about tourist french. And it's tough when most of them know only a tiny bit of English to help bridge the gap. Coralie tells me it is really crazy and scary the first few days but then you start to understand the speech patterns and vocabulary better. I hope that moment comes soon, I miss English.
Not knowing the language makes things sort of awkward. For example, Coralie invited her friend Ysaline (Izz-a-leen) and her boyfriend to lunch to have crepes. They were both really nice, but I felt like a warm body at lunch because I couldn't understand their french. They would occasionally pause to fill me in on the conversation but it really wasn't the same you know? So as you can guess, I really REALLY missed English at that point.
But hopefully it gets better. Hopefully.
Not knowing the language makes things sort of awkward. For example, Coralie invited her friend Ysaline (Izz-a-leen) and her boyfriend to lunch to have crepes. They were both really nice, but I felt like a warm body at lunch because I couldn't understand their french. They would occasionally pause to fill me in on the conversation but it really wasn't the same you know? So as you can guess, I really REALLY missed English at that point.
But hopefully it gets better. Hopefully.
7/6/11
Day 1- Francais est difficil
I am still up although I only had 5 hours of sleep the night before.
Customs was easy and painfree. I never had to fill out a form. What! That's nice. And I get a stamp on my passport. YAY!!!
Baggage claim was more disconcerting because for the first 10 minutes, there was only myself and 3 other families from the plane waiting at the corusel. I started to freak, thinking that I was at the wrong spot and feeling absolutely stupid. But, at last, more people joined us and the baggage was delivered.
So with my suitcase lugging behind me, I left customs. But Coralie was not there. No biggie, I thought, she is probably a little bit late. So I waited, and waited... and waited. No Coralie. Maybe I was in the wrong spot. But if that were true, where should I go? I don't have a phone or a computer; maybe this no electronics idea wasn't such a good idea. While I waited, I meant this cute little girl who belonged to the People to People foundation, a special program by a dead president or something. They travel the world, spreading good vibes about America. She took a picture of my outfit. Later, she and her friend joined me at a table where we talked about traveling and London. She gave me a lecture on how I should never smoke. Duly noted. I actually think they are here to advocate against smoking. Not a bad idea. Many people smoke here. No joke. Finally, Coralie found me.
After getting lost in the airportn, we found Corali's dad and started the 2 and a half hour ride to Dijon. We took a detour through Paris and I had my first glimpse at the famous Eiffel Tower. Honestly, I was more impressed by the hot air balloon floating by it. But it cemented the fact that, indeed, I am in France.
The French countryside is gorgeous. Napolean called Burgundy the Cote D'Or or Gold Coast. I totally agree. It is covered with golden fields with the occasional forest or sunflower field. Ancient houses are situated next to modern, but provincial homes. Churches are nestled in the center of hamlets while a castle stands majestically on top of a hill.
And Dijon is magical too. Tight streets with the craziest traffic I've ever seen. Boys texting while riding motorbikes. Beautiful vistas of the valley below. I could spend all day taking pictures.
Plombieres-les-Dijon has a dazzling church and old stone buildings. Coralie's house is adorable. I love her room. There is a beautiful lake by her house, where we walked her dog and witnessed the french exercise. We also went to the super market.
Dinner was Quiche Lorraine, a salad of tomatoes, onions and olives, and flan for dessert.
Only downside: it stinks to not be fluent in French. Coralie's parents do not know a lot of English so it is difficult to communicate sometimes. I am pretty intimidated. Please tell me it gets better soon.
Customs was easy and painfree. I never had to fill out a form. What! That's nice. And I get a stamp on my passport. YAY!!!
Baggage claim was more disconcerting because for the first 10 minutes, there was only myself and 3 other families from the plane waiting at the corusel. I started to freak, thinking that I was at the wrong spot and feeling absolutely stupid. But, at last, more people joined us and the baggage was delivered.
So with my suitcase lugging behind me, I left customs. But Coralie was not there. No biggie, I thought, she is probably a little bit late. So I waited, and waited... and waited. No Coralie. Maybe I was in the wrong spot. But if that were true, where should I go? I don't have a phone or a computer; maybe this no electronics idea wasn't such a good idea. While I waited, I meant this cute little girl who belonged to the People to People foundation, a special program by a dead president or something. They travel the world, spreading good vibes about America. She took a picture of my outfit. Later, she and her friend joined me at a table where we talked about traveling and London. She gave me a lecture on how I should never smoke. Duly noted. I actually think they are here to advocate against smoking. Not a bad idea. Many people smoke here. No joke. Finally, Coralie found me.
After getting lost in the airportn, we found Corali's dad and started the 2 and a half hour ride to Dijon. We took a detour through Paris and I had my first glimpse at the famous Eiffel Tower. Honestly, I was more impressed by the hot air balloon floating by it. But it cemented the fact that, indeed, I am in France.
The French countryside is gorgeous. Napolean called Burgundy the Cote D'Or or Gold Coast. I totally agree. It is covered with golden fields with the occasional forest or sunflower field. Ancient houses are situated next to modern, but provincial homes. Churches are nestled in the center of hamlets while a castle stands majestically on top of a hill.
And Dijon is magical too. Tight streets with the craziest traffic I've ever seen. Boys texting while riding motorbikes. Beautiful vistas of the valley below. I could spend all day taking pictures.
Plombieres-les-Dijon has a dazzling church and old stone buildings. Coralie's house is adorable. I love her room. There is a beautiful lake by her house, where we walked her dog and witnessed the french exercise. We also went to the super market.
Dinner was Quiche Lorraine, a salad of tomatoes, onions and olives, and flan for dessert.
Only downside: it stinks to not be fluent in French. Coralie's parents do not know a lot of English so it is difficult to communicate sometimes. I am pretty intimidated. Please tell me it gets better soon.
Le Transition
It's 2 AM in the morning in Utah, but 9 AM in France. The flight attendents just served breakfast of an egg sandwich, a banana, and orange juice. I ate half the banana and sipped the OJ and ignored the egg sandwich.
It's nice to finally be on the plane.
I have been feeling nervous and insecure most of yesterday. All my insecurities about this trip seemed to heighten as I sat in the terminal, waiting to board my flight. Around me were french families speaking french or spanish so rapidly I couldn't get my head around it. That really enhanced my worries. But once I was on the plane I felt better. I had the attitude of Well I can't turn back now, so I could only look ahead. Also, I had a 2 seats to myself which was fabulous!! Especially when it was time to sleep.
I was disapointed with the plane. When I flew Delta last year to NYC, I had a personal tv screen so I could play games and watch movies that I wanted to watch. So I figured it would be the same on this flight. Nope. TVs were set up above the aisles like normal planes. I was bummed. I had banked on playing the super fun trivia game and beating everyone like I did when I went to NY. Oh well.
I am flying over England right now!! I can see the beautiful country I love from my window. I can even see the town of Brighton, how cool is that?
I slept like 5 hours on the plane. Being able to lay out on the seats was critical. It was a spmewhat comfortable position, better than trying to sleep sitting up. I also took a sleeping pill which forced me to continue sleeping and go in and out of sleep.
Now I am flying over France. Super crazy because I am flying over a country I have never seen before. What I've noticed about both France and England is how cultivated the land is. France, so far, looks pastoral. I cannot believe I will be in Paris in 10 minutes! I accomplished my goal of seeing France!!
It's nice to finally be on the plane.
I have been feeling nervous and insecure most of yesterday. All my insecurities about this trip seemed to heighten as I sat in the terminal, waiting to board my flight. Around me were french families speaking french or spanish so rapidly I couldn't get my head around it. That really enhanced my worries. But once I was on the plane I felt better. I had the attitude of Well I can't turn back now, so I could only look ahead. Also, I had a 2 seats to myself which was fabulous!! Especially when it was time to sleep.
I was disapointed with the plane. When I flew Delta last year to NYC, I had a personal tv screen so I could play games and watch movies that I wanted to watch. So I figured it would be the same on this flight. Nope. TVs were set up above the aisles like normal planes. I was bummed. I had banked on playing the super fun trivia game and beating everyone like I did when I went to NY. Oh well.
I am flying over England right now!! I can see the beautiful country I love from my window. I can even see the town of Brighton, how cool is that?
I slept like 5 hours on the plane. Being able to lay out on the seats was critical. It was a spmewhat comfortable position, better than trying to sleep sitting up. I also took a sleeping pill which forced me to continue sleeping and go in and out of sleep.
Now I am flying over France. Super crazy because I am flying over a country I have never seen before. What I've noticed about both France and England is how cultivated the land is. France, so far, looks pastoral. I cannot believe I will be in Paris in 10 minutes! I accomplished my goal of seeing France!!
7/4/11
Bon Voyage!!!
Happy Fourth of July everybody!!! I hope you are having a spectacular, patriotic day.
After more than a year of planning and saving and reading travel blogs, I am finally embarking on a trip to France to see my favorite frenchie, Coralie. For those who don't know, Coralie was an exchange student at Mountain View my senior year. I only met her once fall semester at Homecoming because she was the date of one of my good guy friends, Tyler McKinion. It was a fleeting introduction; Coralie didn't remember me and I remembered her as the French exchange student. It was unlikely that we would ever really get to know each other. But Coralie decided to join Model UN, an organization I was participating in. Our friendship finally budded when I took her on a shopping spree to find her a suit for a Model UN conference. We realized each other's love for books and ever since then we have been buddies.
I'm excited for this trip because my senior year, Coralie was learning and experiencing America first-hand. Now it's my turn. Unfortunately, I am only staying in France for two weeks, so I won't get a full immersion, but I want to get the most I can out of it. I have no idea what to expect, but I know Coralie will take good care of me. And hopefully I won't get lost on the subway system (long story).
So here is the agenda. I am first going to Coralie's hometown Dijon, home to delicious mustard and yes, escargot. Then we are going to her grandmother's for a taste of the French countryside and some traditional food. For the last four days, we are jetting to Paris to get a glimpse of the City of Lights.
So stay tuned as I plan to write an entry for everyday I spend in France. Read about beautiful vistas, scrumptious food, and embarrassing moments as I try to use my beginner's French. It's an adventure I don't want you to miss.
After more than a year of planning and saving and reading travel blogs, I am finally embarking on a trip to France to see my favorite frenchie, Coralie. For those who don't know, Coralie was an exchange student at Mountain View my senior year. I only met her once fall semester at Homecoming because she was the date of one of my good guy friends, Tyler McKinion. It was a fleeting introduction; Coralie didn't remember me and I remembered her as the French exchange student. It was unlikely that we would ever really get to know each other. But Coralie decided to join Model UN, an organization I was participating in. Our friendship finally budded when I took her on a shopping spree to find her a suit for a Model UN conference. We realized each other's love for books and ever since then we have been buddies.
I'm excited for this trip because my senior year, Coralie was learning and experiencing America first-hand. Now it's my turn. Unfortunately, I am only staying in France for two weeks, so I won't get a full immersion, but I want to get the most I can out of it. I have no idea what to expect, but I know Coralie will take good care of me. And hopefully I won't get lost on the subway system (long story).
So here is the agenda. I am first going to Coralie's hometown Dijon, home to delicious mustard and yes, escargot. Then we are going to her grandmother's for a taste of the French countryside and some traditional food. For the last four days, we are jetting to Paris to get a glimpse of the City of Lights.
So stay tuned as I plan to write an entry for everyday I spend in France. Read about beautiful vistas, scrumptious food, and embarrassing moments as I try to use my beginner's French. It's an adventure I don't want you to miss.
 |
| Coralie Reynaud, the coolest Frenchie ever! |
7/1/11
Jimmer, Tucanos, and Unicorns
My father served a two year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ eons ago in Sao Paulo, Brazil. So as I have grown up, I have been exposed to many instances of Brazilian culture. One of my favorites is, of course, the food. Over the years, the family has been to some pretty spectacular Brazilian restaurants and made some delicious black beans and rice and fried plantains in our home.
In good old Utah, there are a few Brazilian restaurants, one of them is Tucanos. It is a relatively cheap churrascaria- an all-you-can-eat restaurant specializing in meats. Waiters come to your table with giant sticks of fresh meat like top sirloin or bacon-wrapped turkey and carved you a slice with a giant, menacing knife. It's a pretty cool experience. The nice thing about Tucanos is their Birthday club. A free meal anytime during the month of your birthday. It's pretty sweet. So I took my Brazilian-cuisine-obsessed family to Tucanos today for a meat-ilicious lunch.
The food was pretty good, especially for the price, but the bell-ringer was one of the waiters. I personally love friendly personable waiters and this guy definitely had all of that and then some. First off, he looked like Jimmer. Instant awesomeness. But what raised him to rock star waiter status in my opinion was how he treated Brookie.
Insert note. Brookie, bless her heart, is a seven year old stuck in a sixteen year old's body. She plays Disney Fairies on the internet, carries a stuff animal around, and talks constantly about mystical creatures. Unicorns. End note.
So Jimmer-waiter comes around with grilled pineapple, a Tucanos specialty. Everyone at the table quickly call for a portion, well everyone but Brooke, who tells him she's not interested. He froze, looked her straight in the eye and said "Seriously? I come here with an unicorn all saddled up and ready to go and you tell me no?"
Everyone else stared at him in shock. Did he just seriously compare grilled pineapple to an unicorn? How did he know?
In that moment, we all converted to the Jimmer-waiter fan club. And he never let us down (well except for when he forgot to give Mom and I pulled pork, but that's easily forgivable). He almost convinced me that the whole crew at Tucanos were going to sing Happy Birthday to me, complete with drums and tambourine. Almost.
So at the end of the day, I think I finally found Brooke a man to marry. So Jimmer-waiter, if you miraculously find this and read it, please wait for my sister. You are a match made in heaven. Or middle earth.
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